Jack White: "If You Try to Create a Song, It Pales in Comparison to What a God Could Create"

As I mentioned yesterday, SW columnist Duff McKagan interviewed Jack White for a story in next week's paper. I was on the call yesterday when the dudes caught up, and was able to get a couple questions in at the end. I've included one below to tide y'all over until we post the dudes' chat next week.

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SW: Wanda Jackson told me that when her husband was in the hospital you sent her a note saying that you were praying for him. How does your relationship with God influence the music you're making?

Jack White: It's funny. I don't believe in any religious things very much. I only believe in God, really. But there's times if you believe in God that I think you have to tell yourself there's a good chance he might not exist, and that's the way to sort of look at it from both sides. It helps even everything out.

Even if you're an atheist, if you can think that you can pray out loud to something, whatever psychological effect that it can have on you and the people around you -- like if somebody's sick -- it can bring everyone on the same level. In the arbitrary way, it doesn't matter if God exists or not, in a real arbitrary way.

But in a bigger sense, it can influence everything, because if you try to create a song, or you try to create something like an album, it pales in comparison to what a God could create: a universe. And that's sort of embarrassing that the best we can come up with down here -- a bridge, or a pyramid, or "The Star Spangled Banner" -- is kind of ridiculous in comparison to a star or a planet.